40 A SUMMER IN GREENLAND 
and with the exception of a single colony on the 
south-east coast, the District of Angmagssalik 
(Map 4, A; lat. 66° N.), containing a few hundred 
people, the inhabitants are now confined to the 
west coast. The geographical distribution of the 
Eskimo race is exceptionally wide; it extends in 
scattered groups from the shores of Behring Strait 
to Greenland, a distance equal to about half the 
circumference of the globe. They have wandered 
as far south as the Straits of Belle Isle (lat. 51° N.) 
and there are settlements in the Hudson Bay 
region and on the coast of Labrador. Authorities 
differ on the problem of the original home of the 
Eskimoes, but the view that finds most favour seems 
to be that they came from the interior of Canada 
in the region north-west of Hudson Bay. Probably 
Knud Rasmussen’s present expedition will throw 
fresh light on the subject. In a comprehensive 
and well illustrated work on Eskimo skulls (Crania 
Groenlandica) by Fiirst and Hansen, published at 
Copenhagen in 1915, the authors express the 
opinion that the crania which they examined are 
not those of a primitive race. Throughout this 
large area their culture and language show a re- 
markable homogeneity: there are many dialects 
and considerable differences between them, but 
authorities state that the language of the Eskimoes 
of western Alaska has at least as much in common 
with that spoken in Greenland as English has 
with French. It has no close affinity with any other 
tongue; the Eskimo languageis very rich in suffixes, 
and a single word, which is often of enormous 
